This article is more than 1 year old
Here comes the summer - holiday kit on test
The gadgets you shouldn't leave home without
Sony Vaio TZ
Absolutely essential if only so you can take advantage of your Sling Media Slingbox, a decent laptop is your lifeline back to the real world when travelling. Sony's latest, the TZ - reviewed in depth here - is an update of its popular TX range and aims to combine functionality and style with robustness and portability. Which, typically, it has done in spades.
Weighing in at a sprightly 1.19kg it shouldn't be heavy enough to elicit extra fees at the airport, and thanks to the carbon-fibre casing will withstand the inevitable knocks from surly baggage staff. If they're having a particularly bad day, the TZ sports a motion detection to protect your precious files in case it's dropped. Security is dealt with by Trusted Platform Module (TPM) hardware encryption and fingerprint recognition.
From a style point of view, the TZ is just lovely. Offered in a variety of colours - black, platinum sand and carbon fibre - it's supremely minimalist in looks and features a keyboard design apparently inspired by the "submerged stones of a Japanese water garden".
Onto the essentials then, and the TZ is powered by the latest Intel Core 2 Duo Ultra-Low Voltage CPU (helping battery life) with hard disk capacities of 80GB or 100GB, and 2GB of DDR2 memory. Multimedia apps are a breeze with dedicated AV control keys and an Instant On function that accesses CDs and DVDs without having to boot up Windows, so films will flicker into glorious Technicolor on the 11.1in X-Black LCD screen. Which, handily, is also great for watching your home TV on once you've hooked up to your Slingbox.
Sony VAIO TZ
Keep an eye on the real world with Sony's new portable pal...
 |
| Price | £1749 |
|---|---|
| More info | Sony's Vaio TZ website |
Archos 704 Wi-Fi
Archos has led the way for some time now in the portable media player stakes, developing a comprehensive range of capable and cool players successfully tailored to different target audiences. Of them all though, the new 704 Wi-Fi stands out as a really cracking combination of technologies.
Donning the mantle of convergence, not only is it a 40GB or 80GB storage device that can hold around 100 films, it's also a wireless internet tablet replete with very slick 7in touchscreen. Its functionality both at home and abroad is impressive. Alongside all the expected features like direct recording from your TV with the optional DVR Station, music storage and playback, and photo viewer, you can watch films piped from your 704 to your TV in near DVD quality.
Which isn't to say they look bad on the Archos' own 800 x 400 screen because they don't, but if you've got a telly handy it seems churlish not to use it. Everything is controlled via the resplendent touchscreen, which makes jobs like surfing the net a far more flexible and enjoyable experience. One word of warning: if you, like Homer Simpson, inherited stubby or podgy fingers then stick to the stylus for navigating your way around. You won't need to carry a can of Mr Sheen to polish off those fingerprints either.
Sound quality is surprisingly good for such a slimline device, but as always we heartily recommend a good set of in-ear headphones to give the experience some oomph and save your fellow holidaymakers from your film and music tastes.
The 704 Wi-Fi is one of those gadgets that, as soon as you pick up and feel the reassuring quality and weight of it, you just have to have. A brilliant alternative to a laptop.
Archos 704 Wi-Fi
The latest wireless multimedia marvel from Archos...
 |
| Price | £280 |
|---|---|
| More info | Archos' Wi-Fi 704 page |
Ahh, the pure pleasure of gaming. And if you want pure, then Nintendo's diminutive DS Lite is the volcanic filtered pure of the gaming world. None of your PSP media applications or phone/PDA crossovers here - this is all about fun.
With a design undeniably inspired by the iPod, the DS Lite is amazingly compact and yet very ergonomically sound in use. Its clamshell design hides two screens, one your traditional viewing panel and the other a stylus/finger-controlled touchpanel that invites you to get interactive like no other gaming gadget before it, emulated now only by Nintendo's own Wii.
Manual controls are taken care of by a tactile and well-laid out set of controls - a cross pad on the left and Nintendo's standard A, B, X and Y button arrangement on the right. The screens come with four brightness settings and are both excellent and easily viewable in daylight, though playing on the beach may be stretching things a little.
One of the best things about the DS though is that it's sold region-free and with multiple language support. So with the exchange rates as they currently are, you can pick one up abroad for close to half of the already cheap asking price. One holiday gadget that might be best picked up once you've arrived then.
Nintendo DS Lite
No journey is too long with the DS Lite...
Price
£95
More info
Nintendo's DS Lite website
No journey is too long with the DS Lite...
|
| Price | £95 |
|---|---|
| More info | Nintendo's DS Lite website |
Biting the hand that feeds IT
